It's been slow progress, but she is nearing completion. 30 years ago, she flew with "Galloping Ghost" on an Ace Pulse Commander with Adams Stomper Actuator and KRD quick blip Sequential Throttle (Hi-Med-Low back to Hi) and a throttled Cox .049 R/C Bee engine. Now, she will be powered by a Norvel .061 R/C with 1 oz. integral tank mount and modern proportional with micro servos.

Heres a pic of mine, built this past year. Hope you have as much fun with your Mini Mambo as i do flying mine.....Gene

Originally Posted by gene6029

Heres a pic of mine, built this past year. Hope you have as much fun with your Mini Mambo as i do flying mine.....Gene

Nice airplane, Gene and with a familiar transmitter nearby.

I see you followed a color scheme similar to what was normal 30 - 40 years ago.

Yes, I had a blast then and I anticipate I will have a blast with it now. I'm at 4,300 feet elevation and I wanted something with a little more power to make it "wild and woolly". Got a little lazy with having to route pushrods, and so will do direct linkage with "surface mounted" micro servos.

Beautiful! The colour scheme, the engine, vintage radio.. everything looks perfect

A very long time ago I flew my Mambo using rudder only.

I started to rebuild it for full control.
This project is on the shelf at this moment.

I have modified the original stab-elev for eleator control.

Some day I will get back to it.

Zor

Originally Posted by gene6029

Heres a pic of mine, built this past year. Hope you have as much fun with your Mini Mambo as i do flying mine.....Gene

There you go again Gene, showing off that plane! LOL It is very nice. Wish I could paint or cover that good. Hope with old man winter approaching I can get back to some building. We need to get back on the School Boy builds. Mine is all framed up ready for covering.

John

Originally Posted by Zor

A very long time ago I flew my Mambo using rudder only. I started to rebuild it for full control. This project is on the shelf at this moment. I have modified the original stab-elev for eleator control. Some day I will get back to it.

Nice looking 48" span Mambo. I have the plans and found the former spacing to scratch build one. I was thinking of modifying the lifting stab to symmetrical so it could stunt.

Originally Posted by Rubbernecker

We need to get back on the School Boy builds. Mine is all framed up ready for covering.

John, the Top Flite Schoolboy was my first R/C plane back in 1972; flew it on Ace Pulse Commander rudder only with Adams Baby Twin Actuator on 26.995 MHz (Brown frequency). It taught me a lot about rudder only flying.

I wish i could build them as light as you can Rubbernecker! Yea, i know, my schoolboy needs to be finished too, but building season is allmost here for me. Glad to see interest in this small stuff....Gene

gene6029: I wish i could build them as light as you can Rubbernecker!

Gene, that Schoolboy of your could be finished lightweight without batting an eye. I finished those all balsa types with several coats clear butyrate dope with a light sanding between, then trim in colored dope. As an electric, one wouldn't need to have a fuel proof finish.

OKI, I hear ya. I may try just useing clear with some colored tissue trim & see how that works. I flew with Rubbernecker this past year at a Vintage event here in NC & his Jr falcon put mine to shame weight wise! I dont know where i went wrong, but he definately had more performance with the lighter airframe. My stuff gets exposed to high nitro too......Gene

Originally Posted by gene6029

OKI, I hear ya. I may try just useing clear with some colored tissue trim & see how that works. I flew with Rubbernecker this past year at a Vintage event here in NC & his Jr falcon put mine to shame weight wise! I dont know where i went wrong, but he definately had more performance with the lighter airframe. My stuff gets exposed to high nitro too......Gene

Gene, my guess is most likely the finish. Traditional monokote and plastic coverings can add a lot of weight. I've bought some Polyspan (Coverite Litespan), which is lighter. I used to use silk with several coats of clear dope. I'm going to see if it is light as advertised. Yes, on these 1/2-A's, a lighter plane does fly better.

Yes lighter does fly better. But having something with a little bit of weight (provided it still has reasonable wing loading) and adequate power is also probably the best way to handle the wind, like where we live.

I am getting ready to start on Pat Tritle's One-For-Tea, which is 48" with a target weight of only 12 ounces. Should be an absolutely fabulous flyer, ...but I worry about how it will handle our wind. Looks like yours is a very similar type of plane.

Originally Posted by OkiThumper

Gene, my guess is most likely the finish. Traditional monokote and plastic coverings can add a lot of weight. I've bought some Polyspan (Coverite Litespan), which is lighter. I used to use silk with several coats of clear dope. I'm going to see if it is light as advertised. Yes, on these 1/2-A's, a lighter plane does fly better.

Polyspan is what the Jr Falcon Gene is referring to is covered with. Has silkspan covering on fuse with dope sealing & filler and KlassKote color. AUP was 14 oz.

John

Originally Posted by builderdude

Yes, lighter does fly better. But having something with a little bit of weight (provided it still has reasonable wing loading) and adequate power is also probably the best way to handle the wind, like where we live. I am getting ready to start on Pat Tritle's One-For-Tea, which is 48" with a target weight of only 12 ounces. Should be an absolutely fabulous flyer, ...but I worry about how it will handle our wind. Looks like yours is a very similar type of plane.

Not familiar with the OFT Tony, but yes, the Mambo is not a windy weather flier. It can handle winds to 15 MPH by adding a 1/32 to 1/16 inch shim under the wing trailing edge, but beyond that, no. That is why I have something else in the hangar that is larger. IMO, ideal windy weather plane is something of the order of nitro .15 to .25 or electric equivalent, with at least semi neutral stability of around 42" to 50" span. Definitely not a park flyer type plane.

Originally Posted by Rubbernecker

Polyspan is what the Jr Falcon Gene is referring to is covered with. Has silkspan covering on fuse with dope sealing & filler and KlassKote color. AUP was 14 oz.

Yes, thanks for clarifying, John, that is what was invisioning going on. I went to plastic covering on the Minnie, because it was what I had available at the time. However with a stronger motor, the .061 will be able to provide decent performance. If from scratch totally, I would have gone with Polyspan. I like the tissue like appearance, better than transparent lite plastic coverings.